“The King of all Wild Things”
Mischievous Max on his wild adventure has landed on the island of winners for this year’s Best of Central Oregon. The Wild Things led him to the kings and queens of food, drinks, services, people, places, shopping and nonprofit events in Bend, Redmond, Sisters and Sunriver. “He sailed back over a year and in and out of weeks and through a day” to tally the votes. OK, it was actually a month, but that’s how long it takes to add up hundreds of votes in more than 230 categories, then get in touch with each one of the winners.
“We’ll Eat you Up, We Love You So!”
This issue, by far our largest of the year, represents the original and best readers’ poll in Central Oregon. Max selects the categories (OK, it’s the Source staff) but the public nominates their top choices in hundreds of categories either online or by dropping off a paper ballot. We don’t know who will be nominated or who will come out on top until the votes are gathered and sorted, which is a wild process. This year Max was in a mood and demanded some new categories, including best mocktail, best boba, best local farm, best tattoo artist and more.
Below is the complete list of winners, by category.
Read the Digital Version here!
This article appears in Best of Central Oregon 2025.
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